The Phillies have the lead, it's the top of the ninth inning and Meek Mill's "Bout That Life," blares through the speakers at Citizens Bank Park as Jonathan Papelbon jogs to the mound from the bullpen ready to close another game.

The Phillies are paying Papelbon $13 million this year to do just that, except there's one problem — they haven't had many leads heading into the ninth this season.

It's caused manager Ryne Sandberg to use him in just as many non-save situations just to get his work in.

Before Thursday night's save in a 2-1 win over the Orioles, Papelbon made five total appearances in the 15 games the Phillies played in June and he had one save opportunity in 28 days.

It's not easy to stay sharp with a limited workload like that, but Papelbon has proved it doesn't bother his performance.

The Phillies limped back into Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday after going 0-8...

PHILADELPHIA — You were warned it was going to be bad.

But maybe you weren't prepared for a season of historically bad proportions. That's where the Phillies are headed if their most recent road trip is any indication.

The Phillies limped back into Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday after going 0-8...

(Stephen Gross)

Through Friday, Papelbon was 1-1 with a 1.01 ERA in 26 appearances this season while converting each of his 13 save opportunities. The last time Papelbon finished a season with an ERA at least that low was in 2006, his first full year in the majors.

He's been even better recently. He hasn't allowed a run in his last nine outings striking out 10 over 9 2/3 innings while giving up seven hits and walking three.

It was, however, nice to finally earn a save and have the team put one in the win column.

"Feels good to get off this losing streak more than anything and kind of feel normal again," Papelbon said. "It's been tough. But any time I get a chance to come in there and kind of get us back on the right foot I'm pretty happy with that."

So what's tougher, the losing or the lack of opportunities to do your job?

"I think everything included," Papelbon said. "It's tough losing. Nobody wants to lose, nobody in this clubhouse like losing. We're doing everything we can to come to the yard every day and prepare ourselves to win a ball game. Things haven't been going that way."

Considering the circumstances surrounding him, the results he continues to put up is a testament to Papelbon's work ethic — something that can never be questioned.

"Pap's a professional," Sandberg said. "He prepares about as good as anybody. He just knows what he's doing. He knows what his job is and how to prepare and when he has some down time he does what he has to do to stay sharp. He's an exception as far as that goes. He was very good [Thursday]."

The Phillies should enjoy it while it lasts. Not that the results will change any time soon, it's just that it's likely he won't be around much longer.

His hard work in being able to stay sharp, combined with the fact that he's been on his best behavior for a guy who carries somewhat of a negative clubhouse reputation — be it fair or not — may allow for him to be the first Philadelphia player dealt this season to a team that at least has a chance at contending.

For the 10th game in a row Thursday, the Blue Jays, a team that has been interested in Papelbon since the offseason, had a high-ranking scout in attendance, according to CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury.

Yes, Toronto is one of the teams included in Papelbon's limited no-trade clause, but the closer told Salisbury during spring training he'd be "interested" if a deal was reached with the Blue Jays.

But the grass may not be necessarily greener in Toronto. The Blue Jays are over the .500 mark and very close to a wild card spot at this early point in the season, although, they're not using their closer very much either.

Between April 29 and June 11, their closer, Brett Cecil, threw in just one save situation. Heading into Saturday he had just seven save opportunities this season and converted five of them. As a team, the Blue Jays have recorded the fewest saves in the majors this season with nine.

So if Papelbon does move on, to a team like Toronto, he still may not get used as much as he'd like, however, he's proven he can be just as effective in his roll when he does get the chance. And it's a safe bet that his opportunities elsewhere — no matter how few and far in between — will be much more meaningful than in Philadelphia in 2015.

Amaro making moves? Last year, the non-waiver trade deadline on July 31 came and went, and surprisingly, the Phillies did not make a single move.

The word around baseball was that Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was asking a king's ransom for his club's assets.

We may never know if that was the case, however, Amaro was able to begin unloading some of his players this past offseason, and got a pretty nice return for Jimmy Rollins, Antonio Bastardo and Marlon Byrd.

Amaro is hoping to get some deals done at this season's deadline since he's had "tons of dialogue with a number of teams," but he's not necessarily going to be more aggressive on the trade front.

"I think we have to do the right thing as an organization," Amaro said. "Our goal in any trade is to try to concentrate on what we can do in that trade or what move we can make, what transaction can occur to help our club moving forward in '16, '17 and '18. We have to think more about our future, as I've said publicly many times. … So no necessarily change in urgency. I think it's making sure what we do is right for the organization moving forward in a positive way."